Guild Wars 2

Suggestion for a cheap WvW item… the “Truce Bubble”. It would be an inexpensive, stackable inventory item that could be purchased with coins or Badges of Honor.

When activated, the Truce Bubble creates a visible dome similar to the Guardian shield skill “Shield of Absorption”, along with a white flag flying overhead.

Opposing players inside the area of effect of the Bubble can see each others names, as well as speak to them using the SAY chat. This is all the Bubble does. It does not enforce any sort of truce.

The shield lasts for 5 minutes, and does not move. The Bubble drops early if the caster leaves the area of effect. Other players can enter or leave at will. If anyone inside the Bubble makes an attack, he will be Blinded for several seconds, and the Bubble will drop (with a nice special effect, indicating that the fight is on!).

The Truce Bubble could do many interesting things:

It could encourage chivalry. PvEers could use them to ask for safe passage to a Vista. A well-fought battle could end with the combatants congratulating each other and perhaps developing a grudging admiration as well as personal rivalries, or even friendships.

It could be an avenue towards deviousness. People may try to use it to get in close for spying purposes. Others may agree to a truce and then bushwhack their opponent.

It would likely be used to verbally taunt dead opponents. This would be bad from a “play nice, children” standpoint, but it would also discourage the dead people from sticking around and acting as spies.

People, or even whole servers could get reputations for good or bad. But I think it would add a whole new level of intrigue to WvW.

but the guardian sword skills dont have a bubble:S i gess you mean the shield skill shield of absorption or the utilety skill shield of the avenger.

but on the other hand i think its a good ide tho there should be some sort of deniel to it to so that if i dont want people to know how iam(name of toon) or dont want to talk to them it should not be possible for them to do so that way

Then don’t step into the AoE. If you are dead and don’t want someone to discover your name with a Truce Bubble, then waypoint out. (Yes, I meant SHIELD skill, thank you. Corrected.)

No.

I understand the motivation behind the suggestion and I do not fault it in principle. However, if implemented as suggested, it’s too open to abuse. It effectively gives everyone access to what is functionally a necromancer’s Well of Darkness that can be placed at will with no cooldown and persists for 5 minutes.

Think about it. Two forces facing each other in combat. A member of one side calls for all his allies to drop back a short distance. This member then drops a Truce Bubble on the opposing side. They all go blind due to having been caught off guard and attacking within the bubble’s perimeter. The other side then attacks from just outside the bubble and gains an advantage; possibly enough to turn the tide in their favor and wipe their enemies.

With regards to corpse spies and the hope the bubble would discourage them from hanging around, it won’t. They will either ignore the /say chat smack talk or turn off the /say chat channel; it will do nothing to encourage them to respawn. If corpse spying is that big of a concern, then the better solution is that – on defeat – the player’s view changes to world map view and remains locked there until they choose to respawn. Problem solved.

I recognize there’s a contingent that wants to turn WvWvW into a white-gloved gentleman’s dueling arena. WvWvW isn’t the place for it. WvWvW is the arena for servers to clash in total warfare. If you want a dueling arena or GvG arena, suggest a dueling arena or GvG arena. But don’t try to reshape WvWvW into one because that is not the appropriate place for it.

This benefits everyone; not just WvWvW-ers. With a separate dueling arena, WvWvW-ers don’t have to worry about GvG and duelers interrupting their play experience. Likewise, the GvG-ers and duelers get an arena of their own where they never have to worry about someone crashing the party and interrupting their match. Win-win.

The Truce Bubble forms around the caster. It is not ranged. It can’t be used as a “blind all of the enemy” unless the caster wants to sacrifice himself trying to get into position. (And I believe I’ve read that AoE’s only affect up to 5 enemies now, to prevent massive wipes of the tight-clustered zergs?)

And there are “gentlemen” in WvW. I’ve been allowed to grab a Vista or two here or there without being molested. (Of course I’ve been gang-tackled just as often 5 to 1 by people looking to get their daily kills, too.

I intentionally left the Truce Bubble relatively harmless, with a slight penalty for breaking the truce while inside. Truces are like that. Very fragile, and easily broken. But also very helpful when honored.

I like this idea, honestly. +1